Jury convicts local car dealer with ties to Gulf Cartel

A local associate of the Gulf Cartel accused of using his Apopka car dealership to send vehicles to fellow members of the organization was convicted by a federal jury of some of the charges he faced.

Joe Torres, owner of JM2 Auto Sales, was accused of helping the Gulf Cartel establish a marijuana distribution hub in Central Florida and laundering the proceeds from the drug sales to the organization.

Authorities said associates of the Gulf Cartel, one of the seven main Mexican criminal organizations that traffic drugs in the United States, brought in thousands of pounds of marijuana to the Orlando area.

Federal prosecutors in Florida filed charges against several members of the Central Florida group earlier this year.

Torres was among those charged, and faced two dozen charges including money laundering and structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

JM2 employee Eladio Marroquin-Medina admitted in a plea agreement that Torres created a plan to send vehicles to members of the Gulf Cartel in Texas.

Torres' trial began last week, and on Monday, jurors found him guilty of 14 charges including structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

Jurors acquitted Torres of nine charges, including a count of money laundering.